הישראלים החדשים מחרימים

With Ora Coren

"We will not lower the price of the IDB deal. If the deal isn't finalized by the end of March, we will put off selling the company. We will appoint a professional chief executive for the concern and will wait until the situation improves. In any case the price we closed with Nochi Dankner will not be reduced," Leon Recanati, the chairman of IDB Holding Corporation (TASE: IDBH), told Ha'aretz yesterday.

Recanati was responding to assessments making the market rounds that Nochi Dankner would try to extract better conditions for the takeover he is spearheading. But he has already received a discount. The original company valuation for the acquisition of a 51.7% controlling interest, set in April 2002, was $1.05 billion. After IDB Holding took a trouncing on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Recanati agreed to lower the valuation for the deal to $840 million. That's it, he said yesterday, even though IDB Holding stock has continued to slump as the recession enters its third year.

IDB Holding Corporation stock. Not doing well

Recanati remains confident that Dankner will wrap up the deal in time, though. "I believe he has finalized a financing agreement. Now he just needs to resolve problems involving the whole (Dankner) family," Recanati said. "I believe the deal will be closed."

IDB Holding Corporation has been suffering from eroding value of key assets, including mobile carrier Cellcom and retail chain Supersol (NYSE, TASE: SAE). Yesterday IDB Holding was trading at a company value of $460 million.

Despite the uncertainty that has hovered over IDB Holding in the last year and a half, Recanati said, he has personally remained committed to managing the group. The fogginess has not affected the group companies, he insists.

If Dankner fails to wrap up the takeover, he adds, the Recanati and Carasso families ¿ who still control IDB Holding ¿ will appoint a professional chief executive, not a family member, to manage the group. In any case, he himself means to resign and turn his attention to other things, Recanati said.

"The Ellern-Nochi Dankner deal should be signed tomorrow," said sources near the talks yesterday. The deal involves Nochi Dankner selling his holdings in Israel Salt Industries (TASE: SALT ), which holds a controlling interest in Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI ), to Dankner family company Ellern Investments (TASE: ELIN ) for around $35 million. At the same time, Nochi Dankner is to buy 1.93% of Bank Hapoalim's equity from Salt Industries for $55 million. The moves would detach Nochi Dankner from the group controlling the bank, freeing him from the Bank of Israel's perspective to buy the stake in IDB Holding, which owes huge amounts of money to Bank Hapoalim.

The moves would also bring Ellern the central bank's approval for a fundamental reorganization of the Dankner family assets, in the so-called "Ellern deal", which involves it obtaining the controlling interest in three Dankner family companies ¿ Dor Chemicals (TASE: DORC ), Salt Industries and Dankner Investment (TASE: DKNR ), at an investment of about $205 million. The central bank approval may be contingent on Ellern inveighing on Arison Investments to increase its share in control over Hapoalim, in order to shore up the strength of the controlling group after Nochi Dankner's departure.